Easter under lockdown

It is Easter weekend... we were suppose to be in Madrid, maybe Ibiza with a bit of luck even in sunny Ticino. However, we are... once again... in lockdown... this time across all of France. Graciously we will not need to fill out a "justificatif de déplacement" every time we leave the house and we are allowed to venture out 10km rather than 1 km but nevertheless the Parisian have all but resigned and the mood is very subdued. 

All the French aggressiveness has been sucked out of the people. Obviously amiability is still not Parisians' forte but the city has become more liveable. The lack of millions of tourists has calmed the speed and intensiveness of daily routine. The city renowned as global center for art, fashion, gastronomy and culture is unrecognizable. We have now reached a point of utter monotony. All the reasons that make Paris such a unique city are not available... restaurants, bars, museums, cinemas, arenas, concert halls, monuments, galleries, shopping malls, exhibitions, tours, all gone since October 2020!!!!

Still Parisians are showing their defiance. The river banks are full to the rim with picnickers when the sun is shining (despite lockdown) and personal trainers are making a killing giving exercise classes in the parks... who would have ever believed that is what living in Paris boils down to?

Indeed, while the country's first lockdown a year ago meant closed parks and gardens as well as a stay-at-home order that allowed just a single hour a day for getting fresh air, France's latest lockdown encourages venturing outdoors. The new rules allow unlimited time outside within a 10-kilometre radius before the 7pm nationwide curfew and public green spaces remain open. The upshot: Easter egg hunts are allowed.

So, for those of you who have not fled town in search of greener pastures, enjoy your Easter Sunday in an usually quiet city known as Europe's most popular tourist city. Joyeuses Pâques!

Lockdown No.3

Well, twelve months on and we are back into lockdown - for the third time. Every time it's a little different and even if President Macron refuses to use the term "confinement" we all know how this will go down. No restaurants, bars, theatres, cinemas, discos, stadiums, galleries or any other social gatherings allowed for another 4 weeks.

The attestation is now TWO pages long and has so many option you do not know which one to tick without getting into trouble. Fortunately, even the government realized this and less than 24 hours later word has spread that we do not need an "attestation de deplacement" as long as we remain within a 10km radius of our home. Merci M. Castex.

Given you are allowed out the house for exercising, all of a sudden Parisian have become sporty. A year ago the population took to the bikes as our green city mayor took full advantage of the trend extending Paris' bike paths to over one thousand km... literally!

Today the river banks were overflowing with joggers, bikers, boxers, zumba dancers, yogis, weightlifters and capoeira athletes working out in the sun.

We will all be fit and ready to hit those restaurants when they finally open... in the meantime, my Swiss chocolate stock is diminishing rapidly as my exercise level intensifies.

A view down the Seine onto Le Grand Palais

All that is left of the tourists... lovelocks!

Working out in front of Musée d'Orsay

Picture perfect

Time for lunch on the go

Enjoying the last rays of sun...

before the clouds take over! 

Turning off the noise?

Listening to the news non-stop... it seems to be my new normal... CNN, BBC, BFMTV, FranceInfo, even Al Jazeera to allow for a different perspective. 

Will France go into lockdown or will we not? Will the vaccines make it to Europe or will they be hogged by the UK? Which executive orders will President Biden sign today? My latest discovery NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) US podcasts. It's an eclectic list of sources - conservative as they all may be - which has kept me company over the past weeks and months of lockdown. 

Obviously glued to CNN during the Presidential elections and the storming of the Capitol Hill which reminded me more of France's gilets jaunes protesters than US rioters... and left me wondering WHY was there absolutely no riot police in sight?!?

Maybe it is time to turn off the TV for a while and listen to some music... oh but then there is Netflix and Amazon Prime.. and what about BEIN Sport? 

So, here is the question: do I dare act on my mother's advice and turn it ALL off.. even if only for a day?!?

Those were the days...

Gone are the days when restaurants and bistros were open for business. Paris' social scene has come to a screeching halt during Covid times. We are into our second confinement and no one could had ever dreamt that the year would end in such a desolate manner.

Hospitality sites may not be permitted to reopen until next year, as "non-essential" shops and religious sites wait to find out if they will be able to reopen from December 1st. It has been decided to postpone Black Friday from Friday Nov 27th to Dec 4th! Imagine someone would have told you last year that Black Friday would be held a week late?!? If the government can do that, it can get away with anything!

While some restaurants in other countries have managed to adapt to lockdown conditions by offering a takeaway or delivery service, in France the traditional eat-in model has been harder to reinvent. The good news is that florists will be able to sell Christmas trees outside their shops beginning today.

Hanging in there until further notice... President Macron is scheduled to hold another speech on Tuesday.

Go Philly!

This has been a rare week in which all-consuming coverage of the pandemic has been overshadowed by the extraordinary electoral battle going on across the Atlantic. It was the perfect excuse to take my mind off the lockdown and be transfixed by the drama unfolding in America.

I've been glued to the TV since Tuesday evening waiting to see how the US Presidential elections pan out. Never had I expected such a reality show... and it is still unfolding three days later. 

I went from hopeful to disappointed, to frantic, to nerve wracked, to disgusted, to hopeful, to excited. I am still waiting for victorious to kick in but it's looking pretty good right now.

My Dad was born in Philly and Pennsylvania flipping to blue would have made even him rejoice albeit being a life-long Republican. I have missed him dearly these passed days knowing he was a big CNN fan ever since they launched in 1980 and would have enjoyed following the US Election live coverage 24/7 together with me. 

This year the integrity of the US election process has been put to the test and I truly hope that the traditional values such as diversity, racial equality, women's rights, immigrant rights, working with foreign allies will be fully embraced again and taken back to the White House... meanwhile I will return to watching TV and continue to lose track of the day.

It's not over until it's over

 ... glued to the TV since yesterday...

... and then we went into lockdown... again!

Friday afternoon and we are heading back to Paris early after a short half-term break. We cannot ignore the heavy feeling in our stomach. 

As of today France is on highest terrorist alert and on total lockdown. The only difference is that schools remain open as do the parks. However, if you live further away than 1km of a green space you won’t be able to reach it since the max radius to walk, run or grocery shop for necessities is 1000m.

We are heading into at least four more likely six weeks of staying home 24/7 except for the kids who - until further notice - are allowed to attend classes. 

Education is probably the main reason many parents are heading back to the Hexagon's capital this weekend given that most of us have been recommended to “télétravail” whenever possible. Nevertheless, over the past two days Paris has registered over 1000km of traffic jam heading OUT of the city!!!

Expat daughter who will be turning 18 soon is not happy because according to her these are suppose to be the best years of her life. Now that she is finally old enough to go out at night and meet up with her friends for a drink, she can’t even ride her bike to enjoy a bubble tea in the Marais with her besties!!!

Whatever the situation, it too will pass and as long as we stay healthy and safe we will come out the other end eventually... in the meantime I am stocking up on bottles of Prosecco and continuing my yoga classes online to keep sane. 

Vote! Vote! Vote!

It seemed vital last time around... back in 2016... when it was hard to believe that Donald Trump would actually win the US presidential elections... need I say more?

This time around casting my vote seems even more important. New York State has voted Democratic in national elections since 1988 so I am not sure how much of a difference my ballot will make but I have the freedom as well as the right to vote - a privilege not every citizen in this world can claim - so, I WILL VOTE!

A few months back, my teenage daughter asked me if she could participate at a black lives matter demonstration in Paris... after we had just been confined for 3 months due to Covid outbreak?!? Honey, get real! 

Instead I sat her down and asked her to join me while I registered to vote. There are ways and ways to make a difference and timing is everything! This weekend we sat down in front of the computer together casting my vote. However, Expat daughter was not impressed with the format and I don't blame her. 

Having to print your electronic ballot is one thing but having to tape your printed template of an envelope to send the other end of the pond seems mighty old-fashion for the world's leading technology power. Whatever the process might be, whatever nationality you are... if you have the privilege to vote.. USE IT!

Today I registered to VOTE!

Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, 

one another, this country and this world!

Make a difference. Register to vote!

Parisian bikes are called la petite reine

Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to make Paris the world’s most bikeable city but we are a far cry from Amsterdam or Copenhagen. During France’s 46-day transit strike last year, however, many metro-goers switched to cycling, doubling the number of cyclists on the roads. Le vélo became known as la petite reine (the little Queen).

Then, Paris rolled out emergency bike lanes for the use of key workers during the lockdown. A total of 650 km of cycleway - including a number of "pop-up corona cycleways”- were readied when déconfinement began two weeks ago.

Bicycles were very popular in the French capital up until the 1940s. They were then gradually squeezed out by war and the boom in the auto industry. Bikes are now back in business with a 131% year-on-year rise in the number of cyclists. Car use in Paris is falling for the first time since the 1940s!

If Paris' mayor has her way, we will become the "Ville Du Quart D’Heure" (City of fifteen minutes) an ambitious plan promising that every street will have a cycle path, every bridge will have protected cycleways, and every resident can walk or cycle to get anything they need. Stay tuned...

Bad habits die hard

It's like lowering yourself into a hot bath... you know you have been looking forward to this but the water is so hot it makes you slow down.... that is what "déconfinement" feels like! As France slowly lifts the lid on gradual virus deconfinement plan, French people have been told by the Prime Minister that they are going to have to live with the virus.

Monday morning was a timid start with streets still quiet and little traffic. By lunchtime, however, some chanting, shouting and honking had caught my attention. I leaned over the balcony to realize we had a mini-demonstration panning out in front of an embassy on the opposite side of the road. Over one hundred people, six police vans and three fire engines were parked below our building. Seriously?!?

By Monday night Paris' mayor had prohibited the consumption of alcohol along the Seine embankment since thousands of youngsters had gathered along the river banks to celebrate their new-found freedom.

By Wednesday the main traffic arteries into town were blocked again and I got told off rudely by a bike rider for walking in the road along the sidewalk rather than on in... a habit I adopted during my grocery shopping sprees these past two months to avoid getting to close to other pedestrians.

This is what I call a brutal kick-start back into reality. Oh, did I mention... now that we are finally allowed out we are back to grey Parisian skies and one-digit degrees?!?

Furthermore, we are only allowed to travel within a 100km radius of our homes which doesn't even get me to Reims to sip some French champagne!!!

Day one post-lockdown

What will the new normal look like?

Where has all the sunshine gone?

Back to the hustle and bustle of city life...

or just your regular Monday morning!

Closed and abandoned

With the French capital in lockdown for nearly seven weeks due to the coronavirus, it feels like you could have the most visited sites in the world all to yourself... if only you were allowed out!

What a wonderful opportunity it would be to admire the city without noise and tourists. At the same time, however, it would no doubt be a sad sight, as if the city of lights were abandoned. 

The most spectacular images come from Human Rights Square at Trocadero looking out at the Eiffel Tower, a spot that is close to home and therefore accessible to me after 7pm, but many other places must look like the photos below which I have taken over the years...

One more week and we'll be allowed to venture out again and explore the beauty of this city without the crowds and tourbuses blocking the views. With a bit of patience and good behaviour the cafés and bistros might open up for the summer?!?

The photo above is the only one taken this past month.

Just look at the weather!

An unusual communication campaign

The coronavirus is also fought through communication and prevention. Paris' mayor has been using all the means of the city's display, such as information panels, social networks and media to mobilize and inform Parisians about the situation in real time. Here are a few examples I came across on my morning jogs around the deserted avenues...

The beautiful days have never been so beautiful

Thank you. Take care of caregivers! Lets support them.

Neighbourhood spirit

Parisians in Exodus (this is actually an exhibit currently closed)

Protecting ourselves together while protecting others: Stay home

The right moves to limit the circulation